How Stitch Fix and Le Tote virtual styling services help Bay Area residents get dressed

Share this:

Rena Ramirez wears a blue printed maternity maxi-dress she acquired from rental fashion company, Le Tote, at her office in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Feb. 13, 2017. Ramirez rents clothing on a subscription basis from Le Tote to supplement her wardrobe and add variety. (Gary Reyes/Bay Area News Group)

Rena Ramirez wears an open front maternity shirt she acquired from rental fashion company, Le Tote, at her office in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Feb. 13, 2017. Ramirez rents clothing on a subscription basis from Le Tote to supplement her wardrobe and add variety. (Gary Reyes/Bay Area News Group)

Rena Ramirez wears an open front maternity shirt she acquired from rental fashion company, Le Tote, at her office in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Feb. 13, 2017. Ramirez rents clothing on a subscription basis from Le Tote to supplement her wardrobe and add variety. (Gary Reyes/Bay Area News Group)

When Michelle Romero arrives home to find a heavy box sitting on her doorstep, it feels like Christmas. And it’s a celebration the San Jose resident looks forward to enjoying once a month as she extracts and tries on the tissue-wrapped tops, pants, sweaters and accessories.

She’s usually so delighted with the results, it’s hard to imagine Romero’s fashion fix comes courtesy of a human stylist and high-tech algorithm..

Having a computer and a person you’ve never met choose clothes for you working off a style questionnaire and your social media photos (Instagram and Pinterest) seems an odd concept. But San Francisco’s Stitch Fix’s rapid growth since launching in 2011 points to a trend that may be here to stay.

Stitch Fix — with women’s, maternity, petite sizes and a recently launched men’s division — joins a growing cadre of virtual clothing styling, subscription and rental services. All have similar goals: to make your life easier, help you stay stylish, and, of course, sell you some clothes.

var _ndnq = _ndnq || []; _ndnq.push([‘embed’]);

Before the digital era and sharing economy, you could hire — and usually pay — a personal shopper, or enlist a department store’s free shopper. But Stitch Fix and other services are disrupting that model, bringing a data-driven and social media approach to the process. YouTube is filled with recipients’ “unboxing” videos, showing off their hauls. Others post social media photos, looking for friends’ and followers’ thumbs up or down.

My Subscription Addiction reviews just about every online styling service under the sun. Founder Liz Cadman says Stitch Fix, Fabletics (Kate Hudson’s athletic wear) and Gwynnie Bee (plus size) are readers’ favorites. Some require a monthly subscription, and you don’t get to choose the garments. Others offer on-demand services, charging modest styling fees that can be applied to clothing purchases (i.e. Stitch Fix). Some are rental only.

“I don’t have time to go to the mall and try things on,” says Romero, who is not alone in her dislike of going to the mall.

“Why not let someone else who is really good at shopping do it for you,” says Stitch Fix COO Julie Bornstein. “The idea is someone can save me time and shop better than I can for myself.”

Above all, Bornstein says, Stitch Fix is about personalization, and that works well for Napa Valley winemaker Alison Crowe.

“I told Stitch Fix I’m a busy winemaker and mom with two boys,” Crowe says. “I don’t want clothes I have to dry clean or that wrinkle easily. Most items meet those standards.”

Reading this on your phone? Stay up to date on Bay Area and Silicon Valley news with our new, free mobile app. Get it from the Apple app store or the Google Play store.

Getting the right fit is virtual styling’s biggest challenge, so a team examines each garment on a fit model. Approved items are photographed for each box’s “how-to wear it” styling card. Meanwhile, the clothing is ordered from the vendor and sent to one of five warehouses across the country, from South San Francisco to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. When it’s time to fill a fix, employees pull items chosen by the algorithm and stylist, then wrap and ship them out. Clients keep items they like and pay full retail price, or send them back.

Renting is another option — and today’s choices are nothing like shopping mall formal rental stores. San Francisco public relations professional Rena Rameriz needs a variety of clothes for events and client meetings and subscribes to Le Tote and Rent the Runway. “It’s a waste buying new beautiful outfits,” she says, “so I rent.”

Ramirez has also been taking advantage of Le Tote’s maternity wear option. “The clothes are pretty stylish, young and hip and are items I wouldn’t want to buy or wear forever,” she says.

Le Tote co-founder Rakesh Tondon’s pregnant wife was his inspiration. “She was swapping clothes with friends or work colleagues to have more variety,” he says. Co-founder Brett Northart’s wife had a formal clothing swap group; they tracked trades on Google docs. “I thought we could take this offline behavior and put it online,” Tondon says.

The San Francisco-based company operates solely on computer algorithm recommendations. You surf clothing options and build your “closet.” The program crunches your choices and data points, including weather in your zip code, to fill your five-item tote. You can wear everything, then return it. Le Tote takes care of the cleaning; you get another tote.

“I try to do three totes per month, so the $59 monthly subscription fee is worth it monetarily for me,” says Oakland resident Evita Broughton.

But virtual stylists don’t suit everyone all the time. Fashionistas looking for unique clothes may find the garments and accessories too basic. Some clients don’t need more clothes after a few boxes. Then there’s the boredom factor.

San Francisco teacher Amy Kleckner stopped using Stitch Fix after 18 months.“Towards the end, it was monotonous,” she says. “Even though I changed my preferences and wrote my stylists emails, I was getting the same stuff in different colors.”

Check out online reviews and past box contents. Consider the fee and ask if you would be happy paying it if you don’t keep any items.

Start with a lower fee or subscription price point to minimize your financial risk and potential disappointment.

Swap what doesn’t work for you. With some styling services, you pay a little more but keep all the items. If you don’t like some or all, you can give them away, or swap online through various sites such as My Subscription Addiction.

Pay fees via PayPal, especially if you are joining a start-up service. Cadman says that way if the business doesn’t deliver, it’s easier to get your money back.

Give a gift. You can gift a month, a couple of months or a year. Make sure the subscription is not on auto-renew beyond your gift’s time period, or you will be charged the renewal fees.

Mary Orlin is the wine and food writer for the Bay Area News Group and a James Beard Award and Emmy award-winning journalist, Certified Sommelier and WSET Advanced certified wine professional and frequent wine judge. Prior to joining the newspaper group in 2014, Mary contributed to local and national wine publications, and produced the wine TV show "In Wine Country" on NBC for nine seasons. Mary's journalism career began at CNN in Atlanta. She enjoys cooking and traveling throughout the world's great wine regions.